Most American marathons stay inside one city, or at most one metro area. The Flying Pig Marathon crosses a state line twice before mile 6. That's the first thing to understand about this course: it's a genuine tour of three cities — Cincinnati, Newport, and Covington — connected by Ohio River bridges, followed by a climb into Cincinnati's hilltop neighborhoods and a long run back down to the river for the finish.

Downtown and across the river

The race starts near the downtown riverfront by Paycor Stadium and heads out across the Taylor-Southgate Bridge into Newport, Kentucky. From there the course loops through Newport's streets before crossing the Licking River into Covington, then returns to Ohio over the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. This early stretch is flat by the course's standards, which is by design — it lets a large field spread out before the real work begins, and it gives runners a rare marathon novelty: two states and three downtowns inside the first hour.

The climb through Eden Park

Back in Cincinnati, the course turns onto Gilbert Avenue and starts climbing out of the basin toward Eden Park and the East Walnut Hills neighborhood. This is the section every Flying Pig veteran talks about — a sustained, multi-mile ascent that's the defining physical test of the race. Eden Park itself, at the top of the climb, is one of the city's signature green spaces, home to the Krohn Conservatory and sweeping views back down over the Ohio River, and the crowd support through here tends to be some of the loudest on the course, timed almost perfectly to when runners need it most.

East through Hyde Park and Mariemont

Once the course crests the hill, it heads east through Hyde Park, one of Cincinnati's well-established residential neighborhoods, before continuing out to the village of Mariemont, a planned community with a distinct town-square feel that sits well outside the urban core. This stretch is where the field naturally spreads out further — it's quieter than downtown or the Eden Park climb, and it's also where the course's rolling character, rather than one single hill, becomes apparent, with smaller ups and downs through Fairfax and Columbia Township before the route turns back toward the river.

The long way home

The back half of the course is defined by descent. After the turnaround past Mariemont, the route drops back down toward the Ohio River and picks up the riverside corridor along Columbia Parkway and Eastern Avenue, tracing the river most of the way back into downtown. It's a genuinely different kind of running than the middle miles — long, straight, and net downhill — and it's where a lot of the day's pacing decisions either pay off or come due. The final miles hug the riverfront back toward Smale Riverfront Park and the finish, with downtown's skyline serving as a landmark the whole way in, much like it did at the start.

What the shape of the course means for you

Because the hardest climbing happens in the middle of the race rather than at the start or the very end, the Flying Pig rewards a different kind of course knowledge than most city marathons:

• Treat the Kentucky miles as a warm-up, not free speed. The flat opening miles feel fast because the field is fresh and the crowds are dense; save that energy for Eden Park.
• Respect the climb rather than racing it. The Gilbert Avenue stretch into Eden Park is long enough that even effort, not even pace, should guide you through it.
• Bank patience, not time, on the descent. The long drop back toward the river after Mariemont is fast, but sustained downhill running late in a marathon punishes quads that haven't practiced it.
• Expect the final miles to be flatter and more exposed. The riverside run home along Columbia Parkway and Eastern Avenue has less shade and fewer turns than the neighborhoods earlier in the course.

This guide focuses on the neighborhoods, bridges, and scenery that make the route what it is; the elevation profile itself — exactly where the climbing and descending happen, mile by mile — is worth studying separately before you settle on a pacing plan.